Recently, I have been thinking about symmetry. Symmetry in design, symmetry in nature and symmetry in art. I realize this is not an exciting subject, talked about on TV or on social media, but it is interesting to me. When I see symmetry in a floor tile design, or in the rings of a tree, the petals of a flower I am reminded that the symmetry is not there by accident. It is not a random occurrence. Symmetry is a design choice made by a designer. It is purposeful, it is intended to evoke some reaction. For those who have dealt with a furniture arrangement or hanging pictures on a wall, you know well enough how a design that is just off kilter from symmetrical can drive you batty. Symmetry is an intended characteristic when it is used by a designer.
The symmetry of the bible always astounds me. The way God has written into the story of Himself so many episodes and characters that serve to punctuate His work and His character. How He bookends episodes in His word as a way of punctuating the subject matter. In that vein,I I want to look at a Tale of Two Gardens. See if you find it remarkable too.
The first garden was named Eden and it was literally the very first of gardens in the world. We learn of it in Genesis 2:8; “The Lord God planted a garden toward the East, in Eden; and there He placed the man He had formed.” Soon thereafter, God gave the man a companion - Eve. They lived in the God designed garden, worked it, ate of it fruit and visited with God when he walked in the garden. They knew God, they were present with Him. It must have been a beautiful place. Can you imagine the trees, their leaves a truer green than we know, The flowers more perfect and delightful than any we have seen. And so many types of fruits and vegetables. An overwhelming abundance all available to the man and the woman. All for the taking. Save one.
One thing, one tree, one fruit was forbidden.
In this garden, teeming with life and beauty; with love and the nearness of God, only one thing was off limits.
One thing.
And yet the woman, Eve, listened to the snake, listened and believed.
And Eve
-doubted the goodness of the creator
-believed she was missing out - FOMO
-believed God was maliciously keeping the best from her
-she did not trust the gardener
-she did not believe His voice.
So she stood by the tree that was forbidden, she reached out her hand and pulled the fruit from the tree
and took a bite.
At that moment, the garden of life became a garden of death.
The second garden we see is vastly different. It is designed by humans. It is located in a harsher climate than Eden where dust, scrub trees and shrubs compete with rocks, well trodden paths and caves.
This is what we read in the Gospel of John in Chapter 20.
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, ( well He was, wasn’t He?) she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.”
Here we learn that once again God is working in a garden, but a very different type of gardening than we do.
This desolate garden of death, filled with tombs packed with dead mens’ bones had changed; Because Jesus was buried here, planted if you will, as the seed of the first fruits of salvation.
When He rose that first Easter morning, everything was different. The first one to see Him was Mary Magdalen, a woman with a history.
Thinking Jesus to be the gardener in the graveyard, she asks His help to locate Jesus. And then He calls her by name, and she turns and clearly sees who He is. Seeing Him she bows down in worship before Him.
Where Eve took the place of God in Eden, Mary worshiped God in the graveyard. The graveyard Adam and Eve created by their sin.
Where Eve chose to reject the voice of God , Mary recognized God in the hearing of His voice. Recall the words of Jesus in John 10:3 “And the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name.”
The first garden was where the curse of death descended on all. That verdant, beautiful garden where God was present in His creation became the abandoned home, the place from which we are all exiled, from which we are all ejected, tossed out; and to which we can never return because the way is blocked.
But it is also the place of the first promise of God, a promise of restoration.
And, so the second garden is where we see that the curse has been broken,
It is where distance from God is exiled
It is where death is ejected
Where Evil is tossed out
And the Way is opened to us
Two women, two gardens, two choices
The graveyard of Jesus has become the garden of Life. The place of hope and joy where promises are kept, where creation is restored.
So we have one final choice. We can stand in opposition to God, doubting His goodness or we can bow at His feet, in His presence, hearing His voice and worship.
The symmetry of the word of God, the beauty of His work in Jesus, and His calling us by name are the joys of living in the garden of life.